Training Local Health Departments to Disseminate Evidence-Based Interventions to Small and Low-Wage Worksites

Cancer and other chronic diseases are the leading causes of death in the United States for working-age adults. There are several behavioral risk factors that increase disease risk, including missed cancer screenings, physical inactivity, poor eating habits, and tobacco use. Evidence-based interventions (EBIs) exist that improve each of these risk behaviors, and many of these EBIs can be implemented in worksites where the majority of U.S. adults spend most of their waking hours. There are significant disparities in access to worksite EBIs; large worksites (more than 1000 employees) are much more likely to offer EBIs to their employees than small worksites with less than 250 employees. The American Cancer Society (ACS) and the University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center (HPRC) developed Connect to Wellness, a package of EBIs appropriate and feasible for small worksites. A recent randomized controlled trial of Connect to Wellness with 69 small worksites showed that worksites in the Connect to Wellness arms implemented significantly more EBIs at follow-up than worksites in the delayed control arm.

The objective of the present study is to test different methods of scaling up Connect to Wellness. Local health departments (LHDs) cover almost every community in the United States and most LHDs' missions include preventing chronic disease. In a separate project, UW pilot-tested training staff in six LHDs in Washington State to deliver Connect to Wellness to worksites in their communities. LHD staff completed the training and recruited worksites to participate in Connect to Wellness; these worksites implemented EBIs. The primary goals of this competing renewal are (a) to scale up Connect to Wellness by training staff in LHDs across the United States to deliver Connect to Wellness to small employers in their communities, and (b) to further implementation science by conducting a hybrid type III trial comparing the effectiveness and costs of two different implementation strategies. These goals will be achieved through three specific aims, guided by the HPRC Dissemination and Implementation Framework. The research team will conduct qualitative audience research with state and local health department directors and local health department staff to refine training and support approaches (Aim 1); conduct a hybrid type III trial comparing standard and enhanced technical assistance combined with online training for Connect to Wellness (Aim 2); and measure the costs of each strategy, both to the local health departments and to the research team (Aim 3). The proposed activities will increase the reach of Connect to Wellness across the United States to small employers with limited capacity for and access to EBIs. These activities will also advance implementation science by measuring the impact and costs of implementation strategies offering different levels of ongoing support. The findings from this project may inform implementation strategies for other workplace health promotion programs focused on EBIs and small worksites, as well as a variety of implementation efforts that include partnerships with LHDs. Aim 2 and Aim 3 activities will be achieved through the randomized trial described in the protocol registered on ClinicalTrials.gov.